Gazing at the Stars
by Emily
Summary: Karone realizes she has to make up for all the pain she caused.


_Disclaimer: I do now own any of the characters used in this fic nor am I making any money from it. Saban Entertainment owns them all. I hope you all like it!_

Gazing at the Stars

By: Emily

No matter what she was going through, she could always find strength and reassurance by sitting beneath the stars. Whenever she gazed upon their majestic beauty, she felt a sense of peace and happiness. She had always been able to get strength from the stars. Maybe it was because she had grown up exploring galaxies. Or maybe it was because her only home for years had been in a spacecraft, where there had been little else to do other than staring at the stars. Whatever the reason, she didn't care. All she knew was that she had always felt safe under the stars.

_I felt like I belonged out there,_ Karone thought wistfully as she stared at the stars from the small window in her house. _I love living here on Earth, but I don't feel like I really belong here. I belong out there, exploring the galaxies, watching the stars._

Though it had been five years since she had settled on Earth, she still missed space. Here she was confined to one planet, usually once city. Out there, she could travel where ever she wanted, whenever she wanted. She could explore different worlds and meet people of different race and customs. She would appreciate them now, since the curse of evil had been lifted from her.

_I know that it's been years since I've been evil, but I still feel unclean,_ she sighed, turning away from the window and closing her eyes. _I still feel like the mark of evil is on me and I'll never be able to make up for everything that I've done. I destroyed people, their cultures! How is a person able to make up for something like that?_

As tears slowly began to fall down upon her cheeks she stood up suddenly, knocking into the table as she did. She paid no heed to the slightly spilled coffee that had splashed upon the table. In just a few steps she had left the house and entered her backyard. Starlight spilled over her, illuminating her shoulder length blonde hair. After years changing her hair color daily as Astronema, Karone had never changed her hair. She had let it grow naturally, trimming it every now and then.

_It feels strange,_ she thought, _separating Astronema and Karone. It seems as though I have been two different people, with no way of connecting them. I've even begun to talk about Astronema as if I was never part of her. As much as I hate to admit it, I was part of her. Part of the shadows and evil that Astronema lived for were part of me. Even now there is a shadow over part of my soul, crying out for redemption._

"I wish I could find someway to make up for the sorrow I have caused," Karone whispered, tears slipping down her cheeks. "I have no right to live without trying to make up for my wrong doings. I have to do something, but I don't know what."

"Ecliptor would have told me to do what was right for the situation. He would have told me to do what my heart said." Karone turned her gaze upwards as thoughts of her former guardian came to her head. "Even though we both were evil, I always felt that Ecliptor cared for me. He never yelled at me or hurt me. He only scolded. He always wanted me to do what my heart said, even though at the time my heart was as cold as ice. But when I realized the truth about my past, he let me go. He sacrificed himself in order for me to have my freedom."

_I miss him_, she admitted. _I did care for him. I felt as if he were a father that I never had. He protected me from Dark Spectre, from the true evil that could have taken me. I'll never forget him. If I did, I would be forgetting a part of myself, the part that I grew up in. I was Astronema, Queen of Evil._

She sighed as the memories of Astronema once again came back to her. It seemed that lately, no matter what she did, thoughts of Astronema and what she had done would come back to her. More and more she had been filled with a sense of discontent of the life she had on Earth. Sure, she loved being with her friends and her husband but even they could not fill the void in her life. She needed to get away from Earth, just for a short while. But she did not know where to go or how to get there.

Karone was broken from her thoughts as she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to see Zhane slowly walking towards her, a look of shock on his face. She slowly stood up and walked towards him, concern evident on her own face.

"Zhane, is something wrong?" she asked softly, looking into his eyes. For a few moments they stood there in silence. Zhane opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again as he looked away from her. "What is it? Is it Andros? Has something happened to him?"

Zhane merely shook his head as he averted his attention back to Karone. He took a deep breathe as he began to speak. "Andros just contacted me, telling me that they were coming home. He said that their work on Terra Venture was finished for the time being and that they had to get back to Earth."

"But that's good, isn't it?" she asked, her forehead wrinkled in confusion. _Why would Zhane be upset if Andros and the rest of the rangers are coming home? There is something he is not telling me._

"That's not all though," Zhane sighed, his voice lowering down to a whisper. "Andros was very upset when he contacted me. When I asked him why, he couldn't even talk. Finally he told me that there had been an accident. Somehow, Trakeena had gotten hold of the data cards with information about the Psycho Rangers. She brought them back. Andros said that with the combined number of rangers, they had been able to defeat the Psychos. Or so they thought. It turns out that Psycho Pink had not been destroyed. She found out where the Savage Sword was and she went after it. Kendrix Morgan, the Pink Galaxy Ranger, and Cassie went after her. After a huge battle, Cassie was separated from her morpher. Psycho Pink drove the Sword into Cassie's morpher. Cassie was immediately filled with pain, so much so that she could not move. A pink forcefield surrounded the Sword and the morpher, so nobody could enter it. As Cassie began to cry out from the pain, Kendrix realized that they only way to save Cassie would be to save her morpher. Against everything that she was being told, Kendrix went into the forcefield. She managed to reach the center, where the Sword and morpher were. She was able to destroy the Sword."

Tears had slowly begun to fall down Zhane's cheek as he recalled everything that Andros had told him. Karone slowly put her arm around his waist, trying to comfort him from the pain he was obviously going through. Zhane gave her a slight smile before continuing with the story.

"After she had destroyed the Saber, a wave of energy burst into her. She fell to the ground while the pink forcefield disappeared. All of the rangers quickly demorphed and ran over to her, only to find that she had disappeared. Andros said that Kendrix's spirit smiled at all of them, telling them she was okay. After that, her spirit disappeared and her Quasar Saber shot into space. She's dead, Karone. Kendrix gave her life in order to save the others."

Zhane was silent as he looked away from Karone. She was oblivious to all of this, as her thoughts came crashing down onto her. 

_Oh God no. Because of the Psychos, one of the rangers has died. Because of the Psychos which I had employed, she's dead. If I had not told Ecliptor to put information of the Psychos on data cards, none of this would have happened. She would still be alive._

Tears blurred her vision as she became lost in her thoughts. _Even after my days as Astronema, I am still causing people pain. Even after the curse of evil was lifted from me, I can still manage to kill people. If only I had not told Ecliptor to put the Psychos information on data cards, none of this would have happened. How can I ever make this up to the rangers? How will I ever be able to face this one?_

Suddenly, as if someone had heard her thoughts, a shooting star flew across the sky. Karone watched it, a sense of desire filling her. She had been filled with information, as if someone had whispered it in her ear. _The Pink Quasar Saber is incredibly powerful. If it is to fall into the hands of evil, all is lost. I have to find that Saber, because it is partly my fault that they lost Kendrix in the first place. But where would it be?_

Karone closed her eyes, desperately reviewing the galaxies she had traveled through. Planet after planet she named, but none of them seemed to be right. Suddenly, the name of a small planet popped out at her. An image of Kendrix passed through her mind. Kendrix seemed to be smiling, nodding her head as the name of the planet came to Karone's head.__

__

_Gwinit._

She did not know how she knew, but she did. The Quasar Saber was on the planet Gwinit. _This is my mission. This is how I can start to make up for all the evil I did while I was Astronema. Then maybe I can put her behind me. Then I can settle down on Earth without a void in my life._

Karone looked up at the stars, smiling as she did. _This is what I'm supposed to do. Who knows what will happen now. All I know is that this feels right. In order to make up for the pain I have caused, I will return what rightfully belongs to the side of good._

_The stars really are beautiful. And now that I am beginning to make up for what I have done, it is a lot easier to enjoy their beauty. _


End file.
